As we enter championship week for Fantasy Football, it's worth the time to do at least a little bit of reflection on what we've seen in the past 17 weeks. At running back, we may have just seen the greatest Zero-RB season of all time.
Sure, Christian McCaffrey is still the clear No. 1 running back overall and has led many teams to the finals. But just look at the rest of the top 10 on a per-game basis.
Kyren Williams wasn't even drafted in a majority of leagues and currently ranks as RB2 overall on a per-game basis. Alvin Kamara had an ADP in Round 6 due to a three-game suspension. He currently ranks as RB3 per game. Kamara was drafted four rounds earlier than RB4 per game, Raheem Mostert. Mostert's teammate, De'Von Achane sits at RB7 per game despite being drafted in Round 11. Rachaad White, Breece Hall, and David Montgomery all sit inside the top 12 on a per-game basis and were drafted after Round 4.
Of course, there is a flip side to all this value. Austin Ekeler, Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, and Tony Pollard have all failed to live up to their first-round price tags. If you somehow made it to the finals with one of these backs, you likely have a difficult decision to make in the championship, unless, of course, you snagged one of the studs in the prior paragraph. Achane is the only one from that list who isn't ranked as a start this week.
You can find more in my weekly projections over at SportsLine. Now let's get to the rest of the Week 17 RB Preview:
Week 17 RB Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 17 at this time. Here's what it means:
 
DET
Detroit
• #10
Age: 27 • Experience: 5 yrs.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire could be a top-20 running back if Pacheco is out.
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JAC
Jacksonville
• #24
Age: 26 • Experience: 4 yrs.
If Brian Robinson, Chris Rodriguez, and Jonathan Williams are all out the Commanders may be forced to give Antonio Gibson a feature role.
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Numbers to know
- 20.1 -- Clyde Edwards-Helaire scored 20.1 PPR Fantasy points in his last game without Isiah Pacheco. And that was against a much better defense.
- 21.75 -- Ezekiel Elliott is averaging 21.75 touches per game in his last four games. He is RB10 over that stretch.
- 3.75 -- Last week was the first game all season that James Conner averaged fewer than four yards per carry.
- 12 -- De'Von Achane only has two games all season with more than 12 touches. The Dolphins won those two games by a combined 80 points.
- 10 -- Derrick Henry produced 10 yards on 20 touches against the Texans in Week 15. He'll face them again in Week 17.
Matchups that matter
 
BAL
Baltimore
• #22
Age: 32 • Experience: 11 year
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LV
Las Vegas
• #31
Age: 34 • Experience: 12 yrs.
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KC
Kansas City
• #23
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.
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Tony Pollard
RB
TEN
Tennessee
• #20
Age: 29 • Experience: 8 yrs.
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NO
New Orleans
• #3
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.
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WAS
Washington
• #30
Age: 31 • Experience: 10 yrs.
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Waiver Wire Targets
KC
Kansas City
• #23
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.
Jerick McKinnon is on IR and Isiah Pacheco is in the concussion protocol. Considering it's a short week, we shouldn't expect Pacheco to return which should leave Edwards-Helaire to handle the lion's share of the running back work for the Chiefs against a bad Bengals defense.
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Zamir White
RB
NO
New Orleans
• #30
Age: 27 • Experience: 5 yrs.
White has a good matchup against a Colts defense that has given up the third-most Fantasy points to opposing running backs, but you need to have a backup plan because Josh Jacobs wasn't far from playing in Week 16. If Jacobs is out, White is a top-20 running back, but if Jacobs returns White isn't even a good flex.
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DFS Plays
 
LAC
L.A. Chargers
• #15
Age: 31 • Experience: 9 yrs.
Elliott is still just $6.400 even though he has topped 20 PPR Fantasy points in two of his last three games. A negative game script is not a problem for him as his 11 targets from Week 16 illustrated.
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PIT
Pittsburgh
• #30
Age: 27 • Experience: 5 yrs.
Warren has been in a bit of an efficiency slump the last month, but I love the volume in the passing game. He has 17 targets and 14 catches in his last three games and the Steelers are 3.5-point underdogs at Seattle this week. Warren is one big play from being a steal in DFS each and every week.
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Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 17 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 17. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
